 The brothers Asa and Nelson Tift received the contract to convert the blockade runner into an ironclad in early 1862 with the name of Atlanta , after the city in Georgia . This was largely financed by contributions from the women of Savannah . Fingal was cut down to her main deck and large wooden sponsons were built out from the sides of her hull to support her casemate . After the conversion , Atlanta was 204 feet ( 62 @.@ 2 m ) long overall and had a beam of 41 feet ( 12 m ) . Her depth of hold was now 17 feet ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) and she now had a draft of 15 feet 9 inches ( 4 @.@ 8 m ) . Atlanta now displaced 1 @,@ 006 long tons ( 1 @,@ 022 t ) and her speed was estimated at 7 – 10 knots ( 13 – 19 km / h ; 8 @.@ 1 – 11 @.@ 5 mph ) . The armor of the casemate was angled at 30 ° from the horizontal and made from two layers of railroad rails , rolled into plates 2 inches ( 51 mm ) thick and 7 inches ( 180 mm ) wide . The outer layer ran vertically and the inner layer horizontally . Her armor was backed by 3 inches ( 76 mm ) of oak , vertically oriented , and two layers of 7 @.@ 5 inches ( 191 mm ) of pine , alternating in direction . The bottom of the casemate was some 20 inches ( 508 mm ) from the waterline and its top was 8 feet 6 inches ( 2 @.@ 59 m ) above the waterline . The pyramidal pilothouse was armored in the same way and had room for two men . The upper portion of Atlanta 's hull received two inches of armor .The rectangular casemate was pierced with eight narrow gun ports , one each at the bow and stern and three along each side . Each gun port was protected by an armored shutter made of two layers of iron riveted together and allowed the guns to elevate only to a maximum of + 5 to + 7 ° . Atlanta was armed with single @-@ banded , 7 @-@ inch ( 178 mm ) Brooke rifles on pivot mounts at the bow and stern . The middle gun port on each side was occupied by a single @-@ banded , 6 @.@ 4 @-@ inch ( 163 mm ) Brooke rifle . The 17 @-@ caliber , seven @-@ inch guns weighed about 15 @,@ 000 pounds ( 6 @,@ 800 kg ) and fired 80 @-@ pound ( 36 kg ) armor @-@ piercing  bolts  and 110 @-@ pound ( 50 kg ) explosive shells . The equivalent statistics for the 18 @.@ 5 @-@ caliber , 6 @.@ 4 @-@ inch gun were 9 @,@ 110 pounds ( 4 @,@ 130 kg ) with 80 @-@ pound bolts and 64 @-@ pound ( 29 kg ) shells . Atlanta was also armed with a 20 @-@ foot ( 6 @.@ 1 m ) , solid iron , ram that was reinforced by a series of vertical steel bars . In front of the ram was a spar torpedo that carried 50 pounds ( 23 kg ) of black powder on a wooden pole connected to an iron lever that could be raised or lowered by means of pulleys .On 31 July 1862 , under the command of Lieutenant Charles H. McBlair , Atlanta conducted her sea trials down the Savannah River toward Fort Pulaski . The ship proved to be difficult to steer , and the additional weight of her armor and guns significantly reduced her speed and increased her draft . This latter was a real problem in the shallow waters near Savannah . She also leaked significantly , and her design virtually eliminated air circulation . One report said that fill in the blank  :  Atlanta was easily __________________ free by the Union ships and she reached Port Royal under her own power . 